by Eric Bernt
Barnes picked up the phone in his office and dialed a two-digit extension.
Stephen Millard recognized Michael Barnes’s extension and immediately picked up the phone. “Good morning, Mr. Barnes. What can I do for you?”
“I need to see him.”
“I’m afraid Dr. Fenton is tied up in meetings all afternoon.”
“Tell him it’s urgent.”
Dr. Fenton had given Stephen strict instructions, when he was first hired, that if Mr. Barnes ever needed him urgently, Stephen was to interrupt him no matter what. In seven years of working here, that had never happened. This was the first time that Michael Barnes had ever said something was urgent. “One moment, please.” He placed Barnes on hold, then quickly jotted down a note, which he carried to Dr. Fenton’s door.
Stephen knocked lightly, then sheepishly poked his head inside. Dr. Fenton was sitting with a prospective new patient, a red-haired teenage girl whose hands constantly twitched. She sat nervously next to her mother, who looked utterly exhausted and like she couldn’t wait to hand over her daughter. Among the reasons was that the girl had blown up their garage trying to achieve cold fusion. What the mother didn’t realize was that with proper equipment, her daughter just might succeed.
Fenton looked angrily at Stephen and turned apologetically to the mother. “Privacy is normally a top priority among our staff.”
“Please pardon the interruption.” Stephen walked briskly to the doctor and handed him the note, which he had folded in half.
Fenton read the note and turned to his assistant. “Were these his exact words?”
“Yes, sir,” Stephen answered nervously. “I wouldn’t have interrupted otherwise.”
Dr. Fenton stood up and spoke calmly. “Stephen, this is Betina Winters and her lovely daughter, Rachel. Why don’t you show them around our facility? It shouldn’t take me more than a few minutes to rejoin you.”
Fenton picked up the phone as soon as Stephen ushered out the mother and daughter. “Get up here.”
CHAPTER 25
Harmony House, Woodbury, New Jersey, May 24, 11:32 a.m.
Lunch on Wednesdays was hot dogs and tater tots. Eddie rated today’s a four and a five, respectively. The vegetable was corn, which he found too soupy. He spit out the one bite he took and only gave it a one. Dessert was a choice of green Jell-O or vanilla pudding. Eddie took both. He sampled the Jell-O, but thought it too firm. Two. He shoved it away. The pudding, however, was so good that he gave it a rare five plus. He licked the small dish clean and returned to the service line.
When Jerome saw him coming, he turned and quickly started to walk away. After the last incident, he had adopted a policy of avoiding Eddie, if possible.
“Hey, Jerome, why are you walking away so fast?”
“Got dishes to clean.”
Eddie made his BUZZER sound. “Not true. Definitely not true.”
Jerome paused. “How would you know, man?”
“Dr. Fenton says I’m a walking polygraph.”
The man from Harlem bugged out his eyes. “For real?”
“For real.”
Jerome decided to give Eddie a test. “My birthday is April 19.”
Eddie made his BUZZER sound. “Not true. Definitely not true.”
Jerome was impressed. “I was born the day before. April 18.”
“True.”
Jerome decided to go another round. “My middle name is Malikai.”
“True.”
“I’m the youngest in my family.”
Eddie made his BUZZER sound. “You are not the youngest.”
Jerome shook his head. “I got four younger sisters.” He thought about what a power Eddie possessed. And what a burden. “Goddamn.”
Eddie looked puzzled. “Are you angry, Jerome?”
“No, Eddie. Look, I just better go, okay?”
“Okay. But I wanted to tell you the vanilla pudding got a five plus, and I almost never give any food a five plus.”
Jerome nodded his appreciation. “Is that your highest rating, five plus?”
“Yes. It’s only the second five plus I’ve given this year. The first one was for the green beans served for dinner on Wednesday, February 22, because they were the best green beans I have ever tasted.”
Jerome moved closer to him. “You know who made the pudding today?”
“The same person who always makes the pudding. You, Jerome.”
“Give the man a booby prize.”
“What’s a booby prize?”
“It’s something you win.”
“Why is it called a booby?”
Jerome shrugged. “Got me.”
Eddie looked confused. “Got you what?”
Jerome noticed his boss, Ida Peroni, moving toward them from across the cafeteria. She was shaking her head with displeasure. Jerome spoke quickly. “I got one last pudding. I was kinda saving it for myself, but you can have it if you like.”
“For real?” Eddie asked the question like Jerome had.
“For real.”
Eddie looked thrilled as Jerome handed him the pudding. He held it like a prized trophy as Ida arrived. Trying to hide her concern, she asked, “Eddie, is everything okay?”
“Everything is a lot better than okay, Ida. Jerome is the best vanilla-pudding maker in Harmony House. You should give him a booby prize because it’s something you win.” He brushed by her, finishing the pudding before he reached his seat, where he was surprised to find Skylar waiting for him. There was pudding all around his mouth. She offered him a napkin as he licked the dish clean.
“I guess that pudding was pretty good.”
“Your guess is correct, Skylar. It was five plus.”
“You look like you slept well.”
“I did. For over sixteen hours. How long did you sleep last night?”
“A little over four hours.”
“Do you feel tired?”
“A little.”
He made his BUZZER sound.
“Okay, a lot. I’m very tired, if you want to know the truth.”
“You can take a nap in my bed if you want to. I can tuck you in like you tucked me in. My pajamas will be too big for you, though.”
“Thank you for the kind offer, Eddie, but no thanks.”
“Why did you only sleep for four hours?”
“Because I was reading about you.”
“Why were you reading about me?”
“Because I think you are one of the most fascinating people I have ever met.”
“I think you are one of the most fascinating people I have ever met, Skylar. Can I read about you?”
“I’m afraid there hasn’t been much written about me.”
“If you wrote your autobiography, I could read that.”
“I’ll make you a promise. If I ever write my autobiography, I’ll give it to you to read.”
“Then I will put it on my bookshelf right next to my Book of Questions, because I think your autobiography will have a lot of answers to the questions in my book.”
She smiled at him with genuine affection. “One of the things I learned about you last night is that you think too much about the echo box.”
He stared at her. “I think about it a lot because I am very close to figuring out why it won’t work.”
“Eddie, how long have you been very close?”
He blinked several times. “Eleven years and three months.”
“That’s a long time to try to think about only one thing.”
“I’ve thought about it for a lot longer than that, but that’s how long I’ve been very close.”
“How much progress have you made in all that time?”
“Fourteen percent.”
She nodded. “Just over a percent a year.”
“One point two four repeating.”
“At this rate, you’ll need another seventy years to finish it.”
Eddie corrected her. “Sixty-nine point one zero nine.”
“That’
s a long time, Eddie.”
“Yes, it is. A very long time. I don’t want to have to wait that long to hear my mother’s voice.”
“Which means in order to finish it, you’re going to have to come up with a completely different approach. Something new. It might be surprisingly simple, but it also might be terribly complicated. There’s no way to know what it is right now, but to reach a different destination, you first have to change the journey.”
Eddie looked confused. “How do I change the journey?”
“It helps to first clear your head.”
“I don’t want to clear my head.”
“I didn’t mean literally. It’s only an expression.”
“I don’t like expressions.”
She marveled at how easy it was to forget his limitations. “When I want a fresh start, I like to take a walk.”
“Where do you walk?”
“Somewhere I haven’t walked before.”
“Antarctica. I have never walked in Antarctica.”
“Neither have I, but I was thinking somewhere a little more accessible.”
“Miami Beach, Florida, is more accessible.”
“It’s beautiful outside. Why don’t we go out in the yard?”
A gentle afternoon breeze greeted them as they exited the building. The sun shined brightly as they walked onto the rolling lawns surrounding Harmony House. Eddie paused, closing his eyes. He slowly rotated his head from side to side.
Skylar watched him. “What do you hear?”
“Everything.” He focused on a bird flying overhead and watched it land in a nearby tree. It was an American goldfinch, the New Jersey state bird. The goldfinch chirped. Eddie chirped back. Looking reassured, he continued walking. “Where are we going on our walk, Skylar?”
“Nowhere in particular.”
“That’s a strange destination.”
“Haven’t you ever walked just for the sake of walking?”
“No.” He kept walking. Listening to his footsteps. And to traffic somewhere off in the distance. Staring at the ground in front of him, he was trying to process the notion of walking nowhere in particular. “This is kind of like when you were communicating nonverbally, isn’t it?”
“How do you mean?”
“We are doing one thing, but we’re really doing a lot more than that.”
“That is very perceptive of you.”
“This is also very memorable, just like that was.”
“I think walks are good for people.”
“So are eating fruits and vegetables, and not smoking, and drinking only moderate amounts of alcohol.”
“Those are all true.”
“According to the surgeon general, women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects.”
“That is also true.”
“Have you ever been pregnant, Skylar?”
She hesitated slightly. “That’s a very personal question, Eddie.”
“Dr. Fenton says I should not ask very personal questions.”
“Unless you know someone very well, that’s probably a good idea.”
“I don’t know anyone very well.” They kept walking.
This was an important opportunity, and she knew she had to take it. “Yes, Eddie, I was pregnant once.” Her voice quivered almost imperceptibly. On her list of memories she’d rather forget, this was number one.
“Was it a boy baby or a girl baby?”
“Neither.” She thought about how to admit to an abortion without actually saying it, but without lying, either. “The pregnancy stopped. I never had the baby.”
He took a moment to process the answer. “Will you try to have another one?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so, Eddie.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s just not something I can ever see myself wanting.”
He studied her. “My mother wanted me, but she died when I was born.”
“I am sure she wanted you, too.” She briefly thought of how little her own mother had wanted her or her brother. How else could a woman abandon her small children?
“I’m going to hear my mother sing one day.”
“I believe you will.” She was firmly reassuring.
Eddie stopped suddenly, rotating his head slightly.
“What’s wrong?”
“The mystery man is walking to his car.”
Across the yard, she saw the man, whom she did not recognize. He was walking through the parking lot toward his beige Impala. He moved with purpose. “Why do you call him the mystery man?”
“Dr. Fenton told me he’s none of my concern.”
“Why did you ask Dr. Fenton about him?”
“I know the job of everyone else who works at Harmony House. I know their names, their job titles, when they arrive, when they leave, when they go on vacation, and many other things about them. I know that Nurse Gloria has a son named Cornell who graduated from Yale Law School. I know that Jerome in the cafeteria has a wife named Marla who is going bald, but he tells her she looks beautiful every night.”
She watched the man drive out of the parking lot and past the driveway-gate guard. “What makes you so sure he works here?”
“He’s here almost every day, but sometimes he doesn’t come inside the building. Sometimes, he just sits in his car.”
“That’s a little strange.”
“Yes, it is a little strange. That’s what he was doing last Friday when you left Dr. Fenton’s office feeling excited for the foreseeable future.”
“He was just sitting there?”
“Then, after a while, he drove away.”
“When the opportunity presents itself, I’ll ask Dr. Fenton about him.”
“How will you know when the opportunity presents itself?”
She glanced at him and resumed walking. “Years of practice.”
“Will you teach me how?”
“I’ll do my best.”
He did not make his BUZZER sound. Because Skylar was telling the truth.
It was well into the evening before Skylar noticed the sun had already gone down. She was on her fourth storage box of materials on Eddie, and still felt like she was only getting started. She made all kinds of notes of things to check on further. The acoustic tiles. The boot soles. His love of birds. And the earliest incarnations of the echo box, which predated his arrival at Harmony House. According to his pediatrician’s notes, Eddie first mentioned the device when he was only eight years old. The notes included a sketch Eddie had made at the time, which was quite similar to the existing prototype. Skylar shook her head in awe. What kind of an eight-year-old thinks of reconstructing partial wave fragments to generate sounds made long ago?
“Eddie’s father has never once come to visit in the entire time he’s been here.” Fenton stood in the doorway to her office. “He simply seems to want no further connection with Eddie.”
“Some parents just prefer to wash their hands.” She was thinking of her own mother, and the pain her absence had caused Skylar for so many years. As a child, she had often wondered what she had done wrong that caused her mother to leave. As a teenager, Skylar imagined confronting her, particularly after Christopher’s death. And as an adult, she mostly preferred not to think of her at all, because while she had intellectually come to terms with her mother’s decision, Skylar knew that deep down, she still carried a genuine hatred for the woman.
“It’s tragic, really. For both parties.” He entered her office slowly, noting the few personal touches she’d put around the room.
“I’m convinced that Eddie’s lack of intimacy has been a major barrier to his progress.”
He chuckled. “That’s true for all of us, isn’t it?”
She smiled briefly. “Most of us don’t have to memorize what a smile means.”
Fenton nodded appreciatively. “How do you intend to connect with him?”
“By making him feel safe with me. I want him to kno
w it’s okay to take chances.”
Fenton looked out her window. “The walk outside today was a good idea. He’s been spending far too much time cooped up inside.”
“One of my goals is to do as many new things as he will tolerate. I want to expand his comfort zone.”
“Be careful not to stretch it too much. Without his many routines, he absolutely falls apart.”
“Once he trusts that I won’t let him fall, you’ll be amazed what happens.”
The moment was interrupted when Skylar’s cell phone rang. It was Jacob. She answered the phone, saying, “Honey, hang on for just a second.” She turned to Fenton, cupping the phone. “He was expecting me for dinner. I have some explaining to do.”
“By all means. I should be getting home, as well. Have a good night.” He backed out of the office and closed the door.
CHAPTER 26
Christopher Street, New York City, May 24, 7:08 p.m.
Jacob was walking down the sidewalk, which was always crowded, especially at rush hour, when he called Skylar. He was heading toward the subway station at Sheridan Square with his student Barry Handelman, the billionaire’s son, and Barry’s rather stunning girlfriend. Jacob waited for Skylar to finish whatever she was doing.
She finally got back on the line. “I thought you were supposed to be going to some art-house flick with your students?”
“I am. All my students bailed on me except one. His girlfriend is joining us, and I was wondering if I could convince you to make it a foursome.”
“Wish I could, but I’m still at Harmony House.”
“Okay, just thought I’d ask. Don’t work too late.” Jacob, Barry, and his girlfriend, Tatiana, who happened to be a model, descended into the station.
Tatiana asked Barry, with a slight Argentinean accent, “Do we really have to take the subway? Why don’t we just take the car?”
The professor interjected. “He’s traveling with me, not the other way around. Professors don’t do limos. Especially when they belong to their students.”